Characters.....

Recently Entertainment Weekly released a top 100 list with the greatest characters of the last 20 years and honestly some of them made me sick. You can find the list here.



I realize that something like this subjective but being a journalist (see previous post here) I am going to say my list is better and that I know better than EW. Hey if people like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Rachel Maddow can say they are right and everyone else is wrong I can too!

I am going to give you few guidelines for my list. First the character has to make you want to know more about them. Even knowing very little about the character you need to be intrigued by them. They need to have been around for more than a year. No character in the last year should be on the list. That isn't to say they aren't great characters and won't belong on the list by the end of their run but how can a character just "born" be one of the greatest. That is like saying a rookie quarterback is one of the greatest of all time after one year. One good year does not a legend make. The character also has to have staying power. A character that people will be talking about for years to come. Lastly it should a character that multiple people talk about. Young and old. Male and female. It shouldn't be a character just a certain group enjoy.

Honestly that removes a lot of EW's list. Some I don't even know. However let me say several REALLY don't belong on the list:

70. Mary Katherine Gallagher from Saturday Night Live, 67. Borat from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, 40. Ron Burgundy from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

One could argue Borat fits what I put above. He did get people talking and people were interested in him. I just wouldn't put him on the list because I don't like him or Sasha but Mary Katherine Gallagher and Ron Burgundy? Most people probably don't know who Mary Katherine is! Sadly I do and even saw the shitty movie the sketches spawned. Yeah I wonder why to, I blame the depression...or swamp gas.

Ok here is a list of characters that I would put a list in no order.

Vic Mackey
Eric Cartman
Dr. House
Dexter Morgan
Peter Griffin
Det. Alonzo Harris from Training Day
Keyser Söze
The Joker from The Dark Knight
Charlie Day
Capt. Reynolds
Col. Casey
Adrian Monk

Any of those characters I would love to sit down with and talk about their "lives". Do I want to do that with Edward Cullen or Jack Sparrow? No. Maybe I am looking at it differently than EW. Maybe my idea of great is different. Hell a lot of the people on their list I don't even know.

Overall I don't like the list and I sure in the hell don't think Harry Potter is number 2!

EDIT: I am adding this as I have been thinking about it and I might be wrong about Ron Burgundy and Harry Potter. Burgundy is quoted ALL THE TIME and Harry Potter did effect a generation like few characters have. I still don't like their list but some of their picks might be better than on first look. However I still want to know where Charlie Day is on the list. No Charlie or Monk is a tragedy.